Financial Times

Budget proposals: round and round . . .
The Ministry of Finance has been showing encouraging signs of involving public view points and proposals when preparing the government budget in recent years. The officials in charge, however, show discouraging signs of being adept at passing the buck when it comes to outlining the details of this participatory approach to budgeting.

The ministry took out advertisements on July 31 asking interested parties to contact the Director General of the Department of Fiscal Policy to submit their proposals for the 2006 budget. The Director General of the Department of Fiscal Policy at the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Damitha De Soysa when contacted, however, was unable to provide us with any information on it as she had only joined the department a few months ago.

She, however, obligingly directed us to contact the ex-Director General who, she said, should be able to present us with the necessary information.
However, Ariyapala Silva, ex-Director General of the Department of Budget when contacted was also unable to provide us with the necessary information since he was no longer the Director General. He too however, was extremely cooperative and directed us to contact the present Director General of Budget, G. D. Chandra Ekanayake.

Ekanayake, upon being contacted, apologetically informed us that it was the Department of Fiscal Policy that was handling the budget. Though she was unable to supply any information on the budget, she directed us to contact the Director General of Fiscal policy, Dr. Damitha De Soysa.

Having gone on a triangular tour at the end of which our quest was as yet unfulfilled, we were left with the distinct feeling that what ever else the Ministry of Finance would have trained their staff in, ‘passing the buck’ would have been one of the priority projects.

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